Dance in the Desert

Years ago, when I was the Program Coordinator at a retreat center, I met Madeleine L'Engle. She presented me with a lovely gift of a signed copy of her book Dance in the Desert. When I recently went through eight large boxes of books, much to my delight, I rediscovered this one.

This is a magical, mythical book with stunningly beautiful illustrations. Poetically beautiful, it tells the tale of a couple who are crossing the dangerous desert with their infant child. With grace, tranquility and innocence, the young boy child discovers that all the animals dance before him.

Where there should be fear, there is peace. Where there should be danger, there is solace. Where there is darkness, there is also light. Where there should be gnashing of show more teeth, there are soft paws heaven bound dancing in the moonlight. show less

This is a beautiful Christian allegory. Not being Christian myself, it's not as touching to me as it would be to a Christian. That being said, this reads like a fairy tale, showing the nature and power of the Christ child. It even hints at Mary's virginity, by having the Unicorn drawn to her.

This would be a wonderful gift for a Christian family with small children.

If I hadn't been warned by Michael Fitzgerald's excellent review (which you should go see & like) to know that this was a tale of Jesus I would not have appreciated it all. It's a very long anecdote of one night with a mysterious event... almost a shaggy dog story. Many of the images are lovely, but some are devoted more to the folds of the Bedouins' robes than to actually illustrating the story; I would have loved to meet the scrawny donkey boy with the large horn, but no. He and the boss were the only characters who were interesting at all.

(avl on OpenLibrary)